Full Sail University

Full Sail at the Forefront of the eSports Phenomenon

On March 17, 2012, Red Bull LAN event, an invitational training camp for the top professional gamers to compete in tournaments of StarCraft II and Halo. The event took place in the Full Sail Live Venue – a specially designed gaming venue for eSports.

Sean Plott, also known as Day[9], is an eSports commentator and former gaming professional. He claims that Red Bull, the sponsor of the competition, has a history of aligning with athletic subcultures and propelling them into the mainstream, like skateboarding, snowboarding and motocross. He hopes that Red Bull investing in StarCraft will help bring some notoriety to eSports. It’s possible, too - almost 2.5 million fans watched the live streams of 18 hours of play, as well as a number of fans and participants using the Twitter hashtag “#RBLAN,” which became a trending topic.

By bringing this kind of attention to the event at Full Sail, Plott hopes that e-Sports becomes on the level of Major League Baseball. Plott explained to Forbes in an interview, “Look at Major League Baseball (which I will remind you is “merely” a game in which men attempt to hit a ball with a stick–i.e. it is just another game). That’s where we need to be with eSports. We need to think big picture. There are stadiums all over this country filled with baseball spectators—all watching different baseball games at the same time.”

“In fact, there are so many baseball games going on at any given time, it is physically impossible to watch all of them. There is simply that much hunger for baseball content. And beyond those actual games, there are trading cards, little league games, hot dog vendors, clothing lines, autographed baseballs—the list goes on and on. That’s what I want for eSports. And I think it will come as the industry–and the audience–matures. We’re already seeing the positive effects of a maturing game audience now. Gaming has now become an adult pastime.”